What is the best work flow for burning 4:3 clips to a DVD?

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:37 pm

My current projects use 640x480 MPEG-1 video clips from my digital camera. I normally place the clips on the timeline and , after editing, save the project as a VSP file. I then burn an ISO file using Create Disc in Share and using the VSP file(s) for Add Media. I leave the Display Aspect Ratio at 4:3. I finally copy the ISO file to a DVD.

My question is that as the final DVD will be played on a modern TV with an Aspect Ratio of 16:9 am I actually doing the right thing in order to get a DVD that will play without distortion on a widescreen TV or is there a better work flow? For example would it be better to create a Video File first and, if so, what particular settings: the menu for Video File in Share does give you quite a few choices. Am I correct in leaving the project at 4:3 rather than changing it to 16:9 to "fit" the widescreen TV, or would this introduce distortion?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:44 pm

What you are doing sounds pretty right to me. Though we would normally recommend that after you finish your edits, you render the project into a final video, and then in a separate step, burn that to a DVD or iso file or DVD folder, you are dealing with mpeg-1. That is pretty low quality video to start with and would lose further quality if rendered either to a new mpeg-1 file let alone to an mpeg-2. Mpeg-1, moreover, as you have found, can be burned to a DVD. So if it works for you that way, continue doing it.

But as for editing and burning it to a disc which fits the entire image to screen, that would be rather more difficult. And, in this particular case, pretty pointless IMHO because of the mpeg-1 aspect of it again. To start with, it is 4:3 video -- and indeed its 640 x 480 size is not even compliant with DVD standards (720 x 480 or certain fractions thereof). So the conversion to DVD already involves a bit of padding to get it to the DVD horizontal size.

But the only way to get it to fit and fill a 16:9 screen *without* distortion would be to crop it into a 16:9 aspect. That would of course mean possible loss of important parts of your video from the top and bottom of the original frames. But again, because of the relatively low quality of the mpeg-1 standard, the resulting expansion of the remaining, cropped video when it fills the screen will magnify any defects or artifacts. That's essentially why I think it would be a waste of time in this case.

It would simply be a case of trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear...

Accolades · Post by **Accolades** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:24 am

Most 16:9 TV's have the ability to switch aspect on the TV Controls.

They would/should change to suite the video input.

Accolades · Post by **Accolades** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:27 am

An alternative would be to setup project as a 16:9 and place a colour on the video track then place all the pics/video on an overlay track and scale to fit?

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:36 am

What make and model is your camera?

Are you sure it's mpeg1? Many digital cameras use mjpeg compression - some Canon's, for example, saving video clips as .avi files, whilst many Panasonics use mjpeg compression and save the clips as .mov files.

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:03 pm

Accolades wrote:Most 16:9 TV's have the ability to switch aspect on the TV Controls.

They would/should change to suite the video input.

Indeed. The problem is that if you are making a DVD for friends or relatives and you then start explaining about TV controls and aspect ratios you can see their eyes glazing over even as you speak - well, it's like that with mine anyway.

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:24 pm

2Dogs wrote:What make and model is your camera?

Are you sure it's mpeg1? Many digital cameras use mjpeg compression - some Canon's, for example, saving video clips as .avi files, whilst many Panasonics use mjpeg compression and save the clips as .mov files.

The camera is a Sony DSC-P200. I've checked the properties of a typical clip in VideoStudio 11. They are:

File format: MPEG-1
File size: 10,867KB
Duration: 30.600 seconds

Video
Video type: MPEG-1 Video
Total frames: 765 frame(s)
Attributes: 24 bits, 640 x 480
Frame rate: 25.000 frames/sec
Data rate: Variable bit rate

Audio
Audio type: MPEG Audio Layer 2 Files
Total samples: 879,200 Samples
Attributes: 32000 Hz, 16 Bit, Mono
Layer: 2
Bit rate: 64 kbps

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:43 pm

Thanks for posting the source clip properties.

If creating the ISO file from your project with the clips on the timeline works for you, however, there's not really any reason to use the "suggested workflow" that involves creating a single large mpeg file from your project. That workflow was developed to overcome problems that some users experienced whilst others had no problem with the workflow you are using.

What are the properties of the output from your VS project?

(if you are creating an ISO file from your project, then burning that to a DVD, you could import a chapter from the finished DVD into VS to check it's properties. If that's too much of a hassle, and you are just going with the standard DVD settings without tweaking any of them, you could create a short test video file from your project by using share>create video file>PAL DVD 4:3 and check it's properties)

In VS and X2, when selecting DVD as the output in the create disc step, there is no way to select mpeg1, so your clips may be re-encoded to mpeg2.

Since the DVD video standard also allows a frame size of 704 x 576 in PAL countries, you might see if there is any benefit in selecting that.

The source clips use quite a low video bitrate, so you could probably use a lowish bitrate for your DVD's - say by selecting "GQ" instead of "HQ" in the burn module "project settings" options, without loss of picture quality.

If your projects are short, there would not really be any benefit, other than the discs might take a bit less time to burn and any archived ISO files would take up less space on your pc.

Have you been able to check how your DVD's play on a widescreen TV?

You might make a test 16:9 version and burn it to a DVD-RW disc to see if you prefer it, though as Ken pointed out, the image will be cropped and so it will emphasise any picture quality issues.

Trevor Andrew · Post by **Trevor Andrew** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:25 pm

Hi
I totally agree with the above comments.
Your original video being 640 x 480 is already 4:3 ratio.
Pal video is 720 x 576, your frames will be stretched to fit these sizes. This will reduce the quality/sharpness a little but give you a full frame. Changing to 16:9 will only exaggerate the problem.

The Video bit rate from your camera is probably 1200kbps ish, (you just say its variable) a little low for DVD, but would give very good quality web viewing. ( the minimum VS uses is 1777kbps)
The frame order will probably be Frame Based (again directed at the web) rather than Upper or Lower for standard TV, but suitable for the modern TV (as you put it)
Ok
I would set my project properties to :-

MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 576, 25 fps
Frame-based (or match your camera)
(DVD-PAL), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 4000 kbps) (or match your cameras rate)
Audio data rate: 192 kbps
MPEG audio layer 2, 48 KHz, Stereo

Then use these to render the project (share Create video file- - same as project settings.)
Play the completed file to check quality.
Use the file in a new project to burn a DVD.